West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday made sensational comments that the Andhra Pradesh government had used the controversial Pegasus spyware during N Chandrababu’s Naidu time. For a long time now, there have been allegations from the oppositions parties at the centre that the BJP government has been spying on political leaders, judges and officers.
Speaking about the same, the CM of West Bengal said that she received an offer to purchase the Pegasus spyware around four-five years ago. Israeli cyber intelligence firm NSO Group was ready to provide its spyware to the state police for Rs 25 crore, but Mamata said she refused it as it is dangerous and she did not want to encroach upon the freedom of speech of people.
Banerjee said: “I would not question if this (spyware) was used to track anti-national or security-related issues, but this was used to snoop on political leaders, judges and officers, which cannot be condoned.”
With Mamata Banerjee disclosing that the Telugu Desam Party hired Israeli cyber security company to spy on political rivals, former IT minister Nara Lokesh denied her statement and said his father N Chandrababu Naidu would never entertain such illegal acts. He also opined that Mamata was misinformed about TDP using the spyware and they never purchased it.